Portrait photographs are often taken in a portrait studio. Such a studio typically includes one or more lighting units that illuminate a subject, and a film or digital camera is used to capture the subject's image while the subject is posing in the studio. A variety of artificial lighting units can be used to create quality portraits with various lighting effects.
Flash light sources, such as xenon flashtubes, are typically used as photographic strobe lights. Such flash light sources themselves are highly directional and as a result generate a harsh light that can, for example, create undesired shadows highlighting any imperfections in the subject. As a result, flash light sources typically require various additional components, such as light modifiers, to create a desired light distribution on the subject and scene of the portrait. Some examples of such light modifiers include diffusion panels, soft boxes, reflectors, and reflective umbrellas. The combination of a flash light source with a light modifier is typically quite large, and has the drawback of taking up quite a large amount of space, particularly when used in a small photo studio.
Further, multiple light sources are typically used in a portrait studio to create various lighting scene designs. As the number of light sources increases, however, it is more complex for a photographer to arrange and control such multiple light sources together to create a desired lighting effect to a subject, and the combination of multiple light sources takes up even more space in the photo studio.